After breakfast, Nobita gets changed for school, he takes his backpack, puts it on and heads to the entrance "I'm leaving now"
"Have a nice day son, I don't know why you've been waking up early lately and handing in your homework every day, but I'm really glad you're doing it" says Tamako who was with Doraemon by her side.
"Yeah, I don't know what inspired you but you've lasted much longer than usual. Keep it up, buddy" Doraemon smiles, Nobita smiles back and leaves the house to go to school.
Doraemon scratches himself confused "I don't know, but I woke up feeling weird, like I felt like something was missing, I guess I'll just go and do maintenance on the gadgets"
"I felt that way too when I woke up, just like dad. For some reason, I was making an extra breakfast. I think I should go out to visit a friend later to clear my head" Tamako alone goes to do the housework. Doraemon is still confused but in the end, he doesn't give it any importance and goes up the stairs.
As Nobita walked, he couldn't help but feel strange, he didn't even understand why he was making progress, but it wasn't something that bothered him because after all, praise is better than scolding.
Upon arriving at school, he greets his friends in the classroom. "Good morning Shizuka"
"Good morning Nobita, you came on time today too. I'm glad you're trying hard." The girl with pigtails smiles at him, which makes the boy scratch the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"I don't even know why, but a change isn't bad, right?" Nobita laughs and then puts his things down on his seat. "Hello Gian, hello Suneo"
"Hey." Gian says as he looks at the empty seat next to Nobita. "In the end, the girl who was there left, right? I don't even remember what she looked like or her name, she went a bit unnoticed."
"I know, she was even there at the School Festival but I don't even remember what she looked like, but oh well. Are you coming to my house today after school? An Italian chef is going to prepare 100% original pasta recipes for us. It will be a delight to the palate." Suneo boasted as always, Shizuka and Gian accepted, but Nobita was somewhat reluctant.
"And I suppose you're not going to invite me like always." The clumsy boy exhales tiredly, he already knew the drama.
"Uh? Obviously I'm inviting you too." Suneo says that and the three of them startle, especially Nobita, who turns to look at him.
"Really?! Aren't you going to tell me something like [There's only pasta for 3 people and that's why I can't invite you]?" Nobita asks a little incredulously.
"You really think I was going to say that?" Suneo makes an indignant face but watches as the trio nods at the question "Ok, ok. You have a point, but I guess I don't feel like doing that anymore for some reason, so yeah, you're just as invited as the rest, Nobita" Although the silly boy was still incredulous on one hand, on the other he was happy to be invited
"That's good, it's better when you get out of the routine and the fun is shared for everyone" Shizuka says happily at Suneo's recent behavior.
"Oh, that's right!" Gian opens his backpack and takes out a couple of comics, gives one to Suneo and another to Nobita. "Here"
"They're the comics you took from us a while ago! Why are you giving them back to us on your own? Are you having the flu or something?" Suneo was just as startled as Nobita.
"I don't know, but I woke up in my room feeling a little strange, and for some reason I thought it was better to give back what I took from you, besides, I think I'll calm down with the blows, for some reason, I guess I owe it mostly to Nobita"
"I also felt weird when I woke up, in fact, I was about to talk to you about how you should change your way of being with others because I shouldn't let it go like I usually do sometimes. But this is a big surprise" Shizuka says startled "Did you guys feel that way too?"
"Now that you mention it, yes, and I've been thinking that I don't want to be alone, because at the end of the day, you still put up with me as I am and I should consider that when I show off. It's weird, but, I don't feel bad for deciding it, just startled" Suneo crosses his arms confused.
"I... Still, I think that improving isn't bad" Nobita says although he is a little sad "But... For some reason, I feel some heaviness in my chest"
"Are you sure you feel okay Nobita? Even though it's good that you decided to try hard, you seem a little sad" Shizuka asks with concern, but Nobita just smiles so as not to worry her, nodding silently "Well, I hope you're okay, you know you can tell me anything"
"I know" The silly boy just exhales tiredly. Classes began and everything goes by as if nothing happened, the feeling of confusion that something was missing was dominating the classroom, even the teacher felt that, but in the end, everyone preferred to continue with their lives.
Everyone, except Nobita. Classes ended, the boy watches Shizuka talk to Dekisugi and both approached to greet him, he didn't feel the extreme jealousy that he used to have, now it was minimal because he was even happy to see his most outstanding classmate. "Nobita, Dekisugi is going with us to Suneo's house for the pasta! Are we going together?"
"Uh... Yeah, let's go." The clumsy boy's lost look as he walked with them to Suneo's house, made both boys look at each other worried about their friend's mood, Shizuka tries to make a topic of conversation for Nobita to join, but he kept staring into the distance.
"How about we stop by your house first to pick up Doraemon? Let's all have a nice day, okay?" Shizuka smiles at Nobita to cheer him up, which he succeeds a little, although inside he still felt that heavy feeling in his chest.
Arriving at Suneo's house, the situation didn't change much, everyone was trying the pastas at a long table in the Honekawa's large garden, Suneo was boasting about the chef and the expensive products they used, Gian was already on his third plate, Dekisugi was commenting on the nutritional characteristics of the pastas and Shizuka and Doraemon were eating without problem and enjoying the evening.
But these last two noticed how Nobita barely took a bite while playing with the fork slowly rolling the pasta and unrolling it again, he was sitting in the middle of Shizuka and Doraemon, who looked worriedly at the silly boy with a lost look.
"Nobita, what's wrong with you? You haven't eaten anything" Doraemon pats his friend on the back.
"It's nothing, it's just... I feel a little discouraged and I have no idea why. I've been like this since morning, even I can't understand what's happening to me... I..."
"GIAN FOR GOD'S SAKE, STOP HOGGING ALL THE GARLIC BREADS, THEY'RE IMPORTED BREADS!" Suneo was watching as Gian was stuffing like two loaves of bread into his mouth at the same time.
"Come on, I want to know how many can fit in at the same time, I'm sure I'll break a record!" Gian stuffs another one, I couldn't even understand what he was saying about so many loaves of bread.
"Goda, that's not right, your jaw would go numb if you do that" Dekisugi tries to stop him from hurting himself.
"Garlic" Nobita just says that startled, for some reason, that word made his mind shudder.
"What beautiful vervain flowers you have in your garden Suneo" Nobita looks at how Shizuka had noticed some colorful vervain planted in the large Honekawa garden. The boy stands up as he approaches her and looks at them with a look... Irritated?
"Those are vervain imported from Europe, they are very expensive by the way, it is one of the best crops in the world and the tea made with them is one of the best, even the oil from where we get them is very good" Suneo says that but at the same time he was trying to stop Gian who tries to put another bread in his mouth.
Shizuka gets up from the table to stand next to Nobita while smiling at him "Aren't they pretty? These are of many colors" The girl with pigtails notices how he looked at those flowers, it was as if he was looking at them with some resentment. "Nobita?"
The clumsy boy is startled and just notices the presence of his friend, so he smiles "S-sorry! I was really focused on looking at them, I don't know why but... I don't feel like they are my favorite flowers. I... I have to go. See you tomorrow, okay? It's just that... I don't feel very good. Thanks for the food, Suneo, see you guys"
Nobita just exhales and walks slowly out of the garden, Doraemon finishes his plate and quickly gets up from the table "But what's happening to him? Could he be going through puberty already? In any case, thanks for the food, see you guys"
Doraemon quickly follows Nobita while everyone looks at each other because of their friend's strange behavior, especially Shizuka who was very worried about him, but she couldn't know what was happening to him if he didn't tell her, which was complicated because he himself didn't know what was going on in his own mind.
The robot cat manages to catch up with his friend and walks with him back home. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong with you? Your face says otherwise."
"I already told you, I don't even know what's happening to me. I was confused this morning. I tried to ignore it, but now I feel sad. That feeling in my chest won't go away. I have no idea why I reacted when Suneo talked about that garlic bread and why I looked at those vervain badly. Maybe, I think it's a phase." Nobita sighs sadly again.
"Let's hope so. I don't like seeing you like that and not being able to know why you're like that." Doraemon pats the boy again, who smiles fondly.
"Thanks, Doraemon." The boy pats him too and they both smile at each other. It seemed like he had recovered his spirits a bit.
Although only for a while, because after arriving home, Nobita barely ate dinner, which worried his parents who looked at each other and asked their son what was wrong, but he gave the same answer: "I don't know what's wrong with me."
The clumsy boy spent a good while in the bathroom staring at the ceiling while he was in the bathtub with the water up to his shoulders, just exhaling heavily, Doraemon was also there soaping himself up and looking at him worriedly.
Nobita was the last to leave the bathroom, he already had his pajamas on, he started to slowly climb the stairs while sighing tiredly, when he got to the room, he saw Doraemon putting the Anywhere Door in his pocket "Where did you go with the Anywhere Door?"
"I didn't go anywhere, it's just that for some reason I took it out, I don't know why and that's why I'm putting it back" Doraemon said a little confused while putting the gadget away "Anyway, we have to sleep, you have school tomorrow"
Later at night, the light in the room was off, Doraemon was already sleeping in the closet, while Nobita looked at the ceiling lying inside his futon and without his glasses, he just looked without being able to sleep.
"Why can't I sleep? I feel like something hurts me, but I'm not hurt, my life seems like it's going to get better, Gian and Suneo aren't going to treat me badly anymore, Shizuka is very attentive to me and the adults aren't going to scold me anymore..."
"So..."
The boy feels something rolling down his cheeks, they were tears coming out of his charcoal eyes, he was crying and again he didn't know why, he tried to stop them but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it, he was trapped in a crossroads where his mind and heart were acting differently; his mind, although with doubts, was normal, but his heart was in an unknown and inexplicable pain.
"Why am I crying?"